NYPD cops charged with rape quit the force before department trial

NYPD cops charged with rape quit the force before department trial

Detective Eddie Martins is escorted into Brooklyn Supreme Court in handcuffs after being arraigned on rape and kidnapping charges. Eagle file photos by Paul Frangipane

By Paul Frangipane

Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Two former Brooklyn detectives arraigned last week for raping an 18-year-old girl in the back of their police van, quit the NYPD on Monday, days before a police departmental trial on the charges was to begin.

“Today, the two men at the center of these allegations quit their jobs as police officers. Had these charges been upheld in an upcoming departmental trial, I would have fired them immediately,” Police Commissioner James O’Neill said in a statement on Monday.

Former Detectives Eddie Martins and Richard Hall were previously suspended without pay after they were indicted on charges of rape and kidnapping.

While their criminal proceedings began at Brooklyn Supreme Court on Oct. 30, the NYPD trial was scheduled to begin Nov. 9 and could have resulted in their immediate termination, according to an NYPD spokesperson.

At their arraignment, their defense attorneys said the charges against them were “schizophrenic,” and they were determined to fight the case while attacking the credibility of the victim.

“I would urge people to respect the presumption of innocence, which applies to anyone, including a police officer,” Mark Bederow, Martins’ defense attorney, told the Washington Post.

Martins, 37, and Hall, 32, are accused of raping a woman they had stopped in a drug bust on Sept. 15.

The former Brooklyn South Narcotics detectives left their operation in Coney Island to drive to Calvert Vaux Park in Gravesend, where they pulled over the victim just after 8 p.m.

They found marijuana and Klonopin pills after searching the vehicle. The two then allegedly handcuffed the victim and each raped her, according to court documents.

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